The Legend of the Dark Scouts
by Lylia de Neomenia
Summary: Shadows from their past haunt the Sailor Soldiers...
1. Chapter 1

It was late at night and Raye should've been in bed. It was after midnight, nearly dawn, and she had school in the morning. But Raye's mind was not settled for a good night's sleep. She'd been feeling strange auras for several days now and was deeply worried.

So now, with her grandfather fast asleep and thinking his granddaughter was the same, she sat before the fire in the temple with her two crows, Phobos and Deimos, seeking knowledge and guidance.

She waved the branch of charms back and force, cleansing the area of evil influences so she would only get the response of helpful spirits. "Cleansing fire," she whispered into the flickering light. "Lend me your guidance." She paused, praying deeply. "There is a strange force approaching and I fear what is to come." Around her Phobos and Deimos flapped their wings and squawked, giving their own ominous warnings. Raye calmly stirred the fire and returned to her meditation, willing a clear vision to come to her.

Suddenly she saw something, a flash across the back of her eyelids, her own personal movie. A film of the lowest quality. It was very blurry and out of focus and she wasn't sure exactly what she was seeing. Depending on her intuition as much as her sight, she cried out what she felt, "Oh, what is it? A beginning? What?"

She could see Sailor Moon's healing wand…a wand that had been lost ages ago in a small battle. She'd never thought about it before, but now Raye wondered briefly what had become of it. She saw Queen Serenity's face - a small stir of longing made a knot in her heart. Unlike Serena and Darien and perhaps Trista, her memories of her previous life, like the other Sailor Scouts, were limited. Serena was often reluctant to talk about it and Raye had never had the courage to ask Darien or Trista, but she longed to know what that life had been like. Even so, without her full memories, she knew Queen Serenity's face when she saw it. Her daughter bore a striking resemblance and Raye knew, from a quick visit she'd had to the future once while trying to save Rini's "mommy" - Serena in the future, it turned out - she knew that Serena would grow to become even more like her mom than she probably ever knew.

_Focus on the vision. _She reminded herself. _There'll be time for longing later._ She saw a bright flash - Queen Serenity was using her Crescent Moon Wand with the Imperial Silver Crystal attached. Raye's stomach gave a little jump. _She knew what she was seeing! She was witnessing the moment when Queen Serenity had sent them to Earth! To the future! In hopes of them having a better and safer life, she'd sacrificed herself to give them a fresh start._

If Raye wasn't so drawn into what she was seeing, she would've wondered to herself if the life they were living would've pleased the Queen. Had she hoped they would become Sailor Soldiers and fight against the Negaforce and so many other evils? Would she be glad they had, to varying degrees, regained their memories and were working toward a new Silver Millennium, a millennium that Raye had already witnessed, and not in the vision type way? Or had she wanted them to live normal lives as normal teenagers, ignorant of their past or destiny? In truth, if they weren't Sailor Scouts, Raye doubted they all would've ever met, let alone become friends.

Raye watched, entranced, as she saw herself - a princess of Mars! Who would've ever thought such a thing? - and the other girls were frozen into moonbeam crystals and floated through space to their new home, Earth.

She'd barely had time to process this when another vision began to enter her mind. This one was less enjoyable to watch. She felt an awful sense of foreboding building in every part of her body. She placed her hands in front of her face, trying to separate the pain of the vision and the safety of the temple so she could keep a clear head. She saw buildings crumble and explosions going off…she wasn't sure if she was seeing the past death of the moon kingdom or the future death of Earth.

"And an end?" She cried out, barely aware that she was speaking. Then she saw them, the Sailor Scouts, fighting and, one by one, falling. Perhaps it was the third person point of view, but watching them, watching herself, didn't feel…right. It was like she was watching someone who looked like her, but wasn't her. Just a mirror image. She watched as these Sailor Soldiers fell and then, for a brief second, right at the end, she saw Princess Serenity, not Serena, but Serenity, screaming in agony, as if her heart was breaking.

Finally the torment went away and Raye was back in the Cherry Hill Temple again, alone except for Phobos and Deimos. She drew her traditional _kimono_ tight around her throat, but despite that - and the heat from the fire - she was cold and shivering. And afraid.

"A beginning and an end and a great battle." She mused to herself. "It feels like the Negaforce! But we took care of them a long time ago! What can it mean?"


	2. Chapter 2

On the other side of the sleeping city Michelle, her partner Amara, their friend Trista and their adopted "daughter" Hotaru were just getting up. Trista was making breakfast and they were all watching the morning news with great attention. The big morning story was about an attempted bank robbery that had been stopped by the Pretty Sailor Soldier, Sailor Moon. "The Sailor Scouts tend to handle types of crimes that seem to be beyond the ability of the Police force, but perhaps a lull in that kind of activity has caused them to take on smaller crimes."

The TV showed the police leading the suspect from the bank in handcuffs. Sailor Moon could be seen in the background, just inside the bank. "Sailor Moon has the city's – and the police force's – thanks." The newscaster said, before moving on to the next story of the morning.

"Don't you think it's strange?" Hotaru asked, a faraway look in her eyes. "That she's fighting regular crime?" It was well known amongst the Outer Scouts that Serena was reluctant to fight. She did what she needed to do, but at the end of the day, she'd rather be a regular girl than a Sailor Warrior.

"Yeah." Amara agreed, absentmindedly rubbing her hair dry from her shower. "And since when does Moon Face work alone? Shouldn't her friends be somewhere nearby?"

Trista glanced sadly away, lost in her own worried thoughts.

Michelle, who had been studying her Deep Aqua Mirror before the news had come on, returned to her deep staring. Images and visions were dancing across her reflection, but nothing that made sense to her, that she could use to guess at what was to come.

"I don't know, I've been feeling a strange vibe for awhile now." she murmured, half to herself. She watched in horror as a dark planet flashed across the face of her mirror. "I keep getting visions, but I don't understand them."

Watching the lost and forlorn face of her lover, Amara shivered, in a much similar fashion that Raye was in her Shrine across town.


	3. Chapter 3

Later that afternoon, in downtown Tokyo, not too far away from where the botched robbery had happened that morning, Serena and Lita were hanging out, enjoying the spring weather that was just starting to appear. Serena had two ice cream cones in her hands that she had bought from a local stand and was happily chowing down. "Yummm!" she exclaimed. "These are sooooo good! I'm so glad we decided to ditch Raye's study session today and hang out down here instead."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Lita agreed, a little more reserved on the outside, but no less excited to be out and about in warm weather on the inside. She licked her own (single) cone before adding, "It's way too nice a day to be stuck inside staring at some boring, old book."

The city was bustling, despite the fact it was the middle of the week and the large bookstore across the street was especially crowded. But everybody ignored the two window washers that were being lowered down the side of it, Even Darien, who was flipping through a book just on the other side of the thick glass, was barely aware they were there. But when two sharp crystals appeared out of the air and cut the cables that supported the washers' platform, the reaction was instantaneous.

Even as the crystals were dissolving as if they were never there, the washers were falling toward the sidewalk below, only their safety harnesses preventing them from going splat. When a third mysterious crystal appeared, breaking the harness of one of the workers, most people didn't notice, in their blind panic, but Darien, watching through the window, did, and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

The worker fell through the air. They say when you're drowning, you see your life flash before your eyes, because it's a long, slow death. Turns out even in a fast death you see these images. His wife, his kids....everything he'd seen, everything he was going to miss....he was just starting to mourn his own life when someone caught him by his arm and swung him to safety. As he crashed into the awning – a definite improvement to the pavement, that was for sure! - he managed to look up to see who his savior was. His heart caught in his mouth when he saw. He couldn't believe it. It was...It was...Sailor Moon! He'd been rescued by the pretty soldier of love and justice!

Completely starstruck, he never noticed how Sailor Moon cunningly scanned the cheering crowd, carefully gazed around as if she was looking for someone. If she ever saw who she sought, her face never let on. Instead, she stood up, proud and tall, and bragged to the world, "Another rescue by me, Sailor Moon! Remember, you're always safe when I'm around!"

She leaped the awning, leaped to an impossibly high height, landing on the top of the building. She paused long enough to give one last wink to her adoring fans, and like a flash, was gone.

The crowd was still going wild – Tokyo loved Sailor Moon – but there were three people who were not nearly as enthused. Darien ran out of the bookstore just as Sailor Moon was leaving. "Was that really Sailor Moon?" he asked nobody in particular. "She didn't seem like herself." He turned and ran off, wondering where Serena was. In his rush, he didn't notice that he actually ran right by his girlfriend, who was in the beginning throws of a temper tantrum.

"Why is she saying she's Sailor Moon?!" Serena wailed at Lita, barely audible over the roar of the crowd. "I'm Sailor Moon! Me! Me! Me! Me!"

"Serena, please! Crying's not helping!" Lita shouted back, exasperated. She glanced around, hoping that no one could hear her friend screaming her secret identity out for anyone to hear. "We have to get back and tell the others."


	4. Chapter 4

It was sunset at Raye's shrine and Lita and Serena were just finishing up their troubling story of what they had seen the day before. The five girls had met right after the incident, but had trouble coming up with any reason as to why there would be a second Sailor Moon in Tokyo and had decided to continue their debate the following day after school. Now they sat on the large wrap around porch of Raye's house, going over the details once again and trying to make some sense of it.

"It was so weird..." Serena repeated for the millionth time. "She looked just like me...like Sailor Moon, I mean, but from several years ago. Like when we first were awoken as Sailor Soldiers."

Rini couldn't hardly grasp what was being discussed. Two Sailor Moons? How could such a thing happen? "Could it be a prankster?" she asked, almost hopefully. "Someone who wants to be like Sailor Moon?" This made the most sense to her.

Amy wished it was that simple, but another, more obvious, more likely scenario was haunting her. "Or perhaps a trick from some new enemy?" she suggested wearily, already nearly resigned to this being the fact. "Zoicite from the Negaverse did this once. Is it possible something like that is happening again?"

Serena's eyes became huge in horror. "What?!" she half shouted in protest. "A new enemy? But everything's been so quiet around here." She had been relishing in the quiet, actually. The past few weeks since they had finally freed Sailor Galaxia from Chaos' grasp had been some of the best of her life. Yes, Rini was still a brat that drove her absolutely crazy (although she was secretly glad her future daughter was visiting from the 30th century for the rest of the school year); yes, she was still always fighting with her mother about her horrible grades; yes, she and Raye were constantly at each other's throats, but all these "negative" things made life seem so...normal. Without the constant pressure to save the world from whatever new enemy fate seemed to deem necessary for the Scouts to face, she could almost pretend she was normal recently. Not a Sailor Guardian. Not a future Queen of the Earth (imagine!). Just another sixteen year old girl trying to get through high school in once piece, who enjoyed hanging out with her friends and loved her boyfriend...could there really be a new enemy out to shatter the illusion of normalcy she had convinced herself she was now living in?

Lita gazed into the distance, yet somehow didn't see the beautiful sunset, only the scene from the previous day, repeating in her mind's eye again and again. "A new enemy..." She murmured to herself. Then a little louder, "Now that you mention it, she did seem different than Sailor Moon...cold somehow..." Her voice trailed off as she replayed the rescue – again – in her mind. "Didn't you think so, Serena?"

Raye's eyes took on the same faraway look Lita's did for a second. The horrid vision from two nights ago was still haunting her, like a nightmare she couldn't shake. The last part of it, the deaths of the Sailor Scouts and Serenity screaming as if her world was ending troubled her to her core, even more so since she couldn't decide if she was seeing the past or future. It made sense to assume it was what had happened on the Moon Kingdom – both Queen and Princess Serenity had been it. But something didn't feel right, didn't feel familiar about what she'd seen. Either it hadn't happened yet or...it was impossible, but perhaps...it hadn't happened to them?

Raye shook herself out of her speculations. "I didn't want to tell you guys this, but I had a vision last night. It looked like the end of the Moon Kingdom and the beginning of our lives here." She took a breath before continuing. How could she explain the strange feeling she had when she couldn't even explain it to herself? "But it didn't feel like I was watching us." She finally said. "It was like..." She paused, searching for words. "...like...like...I was watching people who looked like us. Just an image of ourselves."

The others looked at her with truly disturbed looks on their faces. Especially Serena, who really had seen someone who looked like her...a real image of herself. What could Raye's vision mean?

"Strange." Was all Amy said, as she considered what her friend had just said, but everyone was already talking at once, trying to offer their own opinion. Mina managed to say "I wonder..." before Lita barged forward with her own theory.

"Is it possible that your current life here on Earth makes you feel separate from your previous self, your past life?" She offered. "Which is why you don't feel like you're seeing yourself?"

"No, Raye is right to feel disconnected." A voice interjected from somewhere behind them. "She's not seeing herself or you girls at all. She is only seeing an image, a reflection. Someone is the same, but opposite, of her, of all of you."

All the girls whirled around to see who'd been eavesdropping on their conversation. They were shocked to see Hotaru and Trista standing not too far away. They hadn't even heard the two arrive and were shocked by their presence. Even though they were all Sailor Soldiers and came from the same past, the Sailor Guardians and the Outer Scouts rarely worked together and even more rarely intermingled in their civilian forms. They rarely saw eye to eye on how to solve the problems they were faced as Sailors and it caused an uneasiness to pollute the tentative friendship they all had. It was very strange – and rather worrisome – that any of them would come unannounced to Raye's shrine to talk to the Inner Scouts.

Hotaru continued, ignoring the stunned looks on the older girls' faces. "We saw the Sailor Moon on TV and knew right away she was a fake."

"We decided to come over and see if there was a problem." Trista continued, picking up where Hotaru had stopped so seamlessly it didn't seem like she was interrupting. "We overheard Raye's vision and the truth is Michelle's been seeing things too."

"Really?" Amy asked, a bit shocked. She shouldn't have been. Everyone knew Michelle was almost as psychic as Raye.

"Does she know what's happening?" Mina asked hopefully. Surely someone as intelligent as Michelle could figure out what was going on.

Rini was feeling worse with every passing minute and the arrival of her old friend Hotaru wasn't helping at all. "Is something bad going to happen?" she asked softly, almost a whisper, to Lita.

Lita tried a reassuring wink to Rini. "Maybe," she allowed, " but there's nothing we can't handle, you know that, Rini."

Hotaru gave a slight nod in agreement before continuing where she'd left off. She was sorry to be distressing Rini so thoroughly – Rini had been her first friend, after all – but the situation she was sure they were facing didn't allow for coddling and gentleness. "I believe we are at the beginning of the end." She announced firmly. "We are at the point where the world will end in the 20th century and reawaken in the 30th century with the coming of Neo-Queen Serenity!" She said the last part almost triumphantly, as if this were a great event they should all be looking forward to, but Serena could only look at her as if she were horrified at the notion. _She was soon to become Neo-Queen Serenity? Impossible! She was only 16! She hadn't even finished high school yet! She..." _Serena became aware that Hotaru was still talking and forced herself to listen. Maybe there was more to this than what she had heard so far had let on. "This is the point where the future will be made as you have seen it...or it will be destroyed as the silver millennium was one thousand years ago. You must come out of this battle victorious, Princess. This is the point where all things will begin and end. You must not fail." The futures of Crystal Tokyo and the next Silver Millennium are at stake."

"Hotaru is right." Trista agreed. "The time is coming when Sailor Moon must be ready to take her rightful place as queen."

"But that's impossible!" Amy exclaimed. "How can you know this?"

"As the Sailor Soldier of Silence and Destruction I have a sense of when things are about to end."

"And the time is coming when Hotaru must use this power...and Sailor Moon will be the one to awaken us at the end." Trista added, sending a shiver of fear down Serena's back.


	5. Chapter 5

After Trista had uttered those fairly ominous sounding words, they decided it was time to take the conversation inside. They were obviously going to be there awhile, talking, arguing, debating, about what exactly was happening right now, what to do about it, and what was coming as Hotaru kept predicting. Rini was tucked into Raye's bed and was sleeping soundly. She'd forgotten how exhausting the 20th century could be, with the constant threats to the Earth's safety, combined with the day to day drama of teenage girls. The 30th century was so much simpler...

Raye had changed out of her _kimono_ into a much more comfortable light turtle neck and skirt and the Inner Scouts were sitting around a table, except Serena, who was sitting on the porch, just outside the open door to the room. Trista and Hotaru were sitting with her, trying to boost her outlook for the future duty that was almost upon her.

Inside, Lita, Raye, Mina and Amy were talking softly amongst themselves, trying to not distract Serena from Hotaru and Trista outside. "So what are we going to do about this new Sailor Moon?" Mina asked. "Even with everything Trista told us, we know nothing about what to do next."

Artemis, her loyal cat guardian, was sitting next to her with Luna and his future daughter Diana. "Let's try to think of a plan." he offered, and his words caught Trista's attention from outside.

"There might not be time for that." She said. "I can sense that she does not belong to this world. Evil or not, she cannot be allowed to stay here for very long."

Serena was sitting on the porch, only half listening to Trista (who was only really thinking out loud herself) when she felt her heart give a strange jump at the same time her Crystal seemed to as well. _What is that? _She asked herself. _Something is happening..._

Nobody noticed Serena stiffen or the bewildered look on her face. The conversation continued without her. "What do you mean?" Raye asked Trista.

"'Not of this world'"? Mina echoed questioningly.

"I think I understand." Amy said. "She's from a different time, like Rini, right, Trista?"

Everyone turned a looked at the younger girl sleeping nearby. Lita didn't really like the comparison of Rini to this new enemy. "Except Rini has Pluto's permission to time travel." She pointed out.

"Stop it!" Serena snapped in a very un-Serena type way. Her fists tightened up with anger and she jumped up and ran a few steps so she could turn and face everyone properly. "I won't listen to you compare Rini to this...monster!"

Trista tried to soothe her. "Serena, that's not what we meant. Besides what I mean is that she's from an alternate universe...not an another time."

Serena turned away again. "You guys don't understand!" She shouted.

"Serena?" Luna prompted hesitantly.

"I'm connected to her." Serena told them, her voice trembling with emotion. "Right now, I can sense she is near." At that moment her Crystal began to react, washing the entire area in a bright pink-white light. Serena put her hands over her locket, trying to hide the phenomenon from anyone who might be nearby. "Even my Crystal's reacting...We have to find her now!"

Raye, never to be outdone by crybaby Serena, quickly leaped over the table to join her princess. "I'm with Serena!" she announced firmly.

Lita, who rarely shied away from a fight, was instantly on her feet too. "Yeah, there's not point in waiting around." She agreed, joining Serena and Raye, Amy and Mina right behind her.

Hotaru looked on approvingly. "You guys go help Sailor Moon," she agreed. "We'll stay here and watch over Rini."

Trista gave a small nod. "Yes, we'll stay here and be sure to keep Small Lady safe."

As the girls were preparing to transform, Luna couldn't help shouting after them, fearing the worst of what was about to happen. "Be careful, Scouts! You don't know what you're up against."

"OK!" the girls shouted in response, pulling their transformation pens out.

And so they transformed, in the blink of an eye and with a few short words, going from ordinary high school girls to the Sailor-suited Soldiers of Love and Justice.

"Mercury Crystal Power! Make Up!

"Mars Crystal Power! Make Up!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power! Make Up!"

"Venus Crystal Power! Make Up!"

"Moon Eternal Make Up!"

Once all were transformed, they headed back downtown, back to where they had originally seen the "other" Sailor Moon, as she was being known in their group. Sailor Jupiter, always gung ho to take out a perceived threat, immediately took charge. "Right! Now let's find this impostor and find out what she wants!"

"Right!" The other girls all voiced in agreement.

Then, as if hearing their determination to find her, there she was! The other Sailor Moon! She seemed to almost appear out of nowhere, landing gracefully and confidently on top of the same building she had been on while winking good bye to her fans the day before. She gazed down at the Sailor Warriors, a cocky little smirk playing on her lips, as if she were daring them to come after her. Then, as if she were already bored with them, she turned and leaped away, out of sight.

"There she is!" Sailor Jupiter exclaimed in awe. It was too easy. It was almost as if she were waiting for them.

"Let's follow her!" insisted Mars.

"Right!" agreed Sailor Mercury.

"Let's go!" said Sailor Moon.


	6. Chapter 6

_Dark Sailor Moon ran along the Tokyo skyline, leaping from building top to building top. She had the attention of the Sailor Warriors, she was sure of it. How could they have missed her? They were right behind her. She could sense them. She couldn't wait for them to catch up. Couldn't wait for them to see what she had in store for them._

The Sailor Scouts were indeed following close behind, in fact, they were almost on top of the "other" Sailor Moon when suddenly she disappeared and the air around them turned pitch black – despite the fact they were outside. The moon and stars of the night sky disappeared and it was if they were in the deepest of tunnels.

"Hey! Why did it get so dark?" Sailor Jupiter cried.

"What's going on?" Sailor Mars demanded.

Sailor Mercury didn't like this, not one bit. "Wait guys, there's somebody up ahead, let me check my computer..." She was typing furiously away, trying to get a reading through the darkness to see what was in front of them.

But she never had to finish. The moon miraculously reappeared from behind the clouds to reveal...to reveal...could they even believe it?

"Are you looking for us?" A group of familiar voices shouted at them.

"Mercury Dark Power! Make Up!"

"Mars Dark Power! Make Up!"

"Jupiter Dark Power! Make Up!"

"Venus Dark Power! Make Up!"


End file.
